How can i delete Directories and Subdirectories?
 

Red Hat 7.3
GNOME


I would like to delete a bunch of directories and subdirectories none of which are empty.

Is there a command I can use to delete a directory even though it is not empty?

rm -rf

Pass the -r (-r stands for recursive) argument to rm.
But use with care, typing rm -rf /
as root will delete your entire partition, all mounted patitions, and, some say, your partition table.

thanks, that works great

I don't think rm -rf could delete the partition table

I don't either, but I read it somwhere, and, as I have no intention of trying it myself, I have no way of verifying that it cannot.

i dare you..try -rf in root..come on!! :P

wouldn't -r be enough? then, when you get warnings if you're doing this recursively on something you really should'nt...makes you think twice... after this, if you still need to, you can rerun it with -rf. But for most operations, -r should be enough, eh?

We used to tell guys at school deltree /y *.*
(or something like that, it's been too long ;)) would bring up a real cool game :(

i always think its funny to go to a friends XP computer go into a dos prompt and create a file the sais "im stupid cuz i cant delete this and i use XP" in their desktop im not sure how to do it anymore so that they cant delete it from within windows but one of these days im gonna look it up cuz my friends got a 2.8 ghz p4 with 21 inch trinitron monitor and all the works and im severely jelaous...ill get him

If you can't get a better computer, you can always burn down his house ;) That will teach him not to buy better computers than you :D

ive thought about ti...
but i have a better idea...since we both have dimension 8200 i can swap out any and all hardware...so im thinking next time he asks me for help ill just steal his geforece4 ti 4600...some ram...probly just switch the mobos since mine doesnt have support for 1.1 extra ghz but ill leave him his hdd...hed notice that difference...then ill burn down his house for having the monitor

Good Plan :) get a photo of his house burning down..and then we can send it to MasterC...maybe he can host it for us ;)

If you are deleting (exagerated) a thousand directories, with a thousand subdirectories, all containing a thousand files, and you have to say "y" to each one, I think your eyes would pop out. However, if it's 5 directories/files total, then the verbose deleting wouldn't be so bad ;)

:D I don't think I'd host that, sounds like it might get all legal and stuff ;) However, if you get your friend to sign a consent form saying it's cool if you burn his house down, and that it's cool if I host the video/pic, then I'd be glad to :D

Cool

This is what I meant: if you have the correct permissions, -r should unlink everything w/o a question (unless you have rm setup differently- maybe looking into bashrc, etc. help)
The -f would be used to answer yes each time for files you dont have 'explicit' write permissions, but that you 'can' still delete. ...oooh....going in circles. hopefully someone picked up the difference.